who has a fish tank on a second floor?

[D-Nak]

Just wondering who has a fish tank set up on a second floor and how big it is -- I've got a 120 gallon tank I'm planning to set-up and I just want to see if people with large tanks (100+ gallons) are at all worried, have sagging floors, or worse

.

I've did my research (checked the joists, the floor, etc. and I know about how much a floor can support) this is more out of curiousity than anything else.

Thanks,

D-Nak

 

[Mouse]

As far as i know 25 gallons for second floor is your limit.

 

[Anonymous]

I live on the second floor of an older building, and here are the tanks I have up here :

two 6-gallons
one 20-long
one 50 gallon
one 75 gallon
one 110 gallon

They've all been set up for at least a year, and some more like a year and a half.

Hope that helps.

Peace,

Chip

 

[butt.doc]

I have a 50 gallon tank with 100 lbs rock, 150 lbs sand, and 15 gallon sump on the second floor of a 100+ year old house.

 

[Anonymous]

I believe mouse is referring to "imperial" or perhaps "regal" gallons which are of course much larger than our colonial gallons.

 

[montie]

not a lot bigger than us gallons, 4.5 litres to a uk gallon. mouse no offence but your totally wrong i have a 60gal on my floor no problem thats in a house with 7 x 2 timber floors. just make sure imo that the tank is sitting across many beams and not parralel along them. also cyber i know it works, but i wouldnt have dared hehe

 

[Mike and Donna]

This topic always spurs a lot of debate...

But, people have:

- parties and dancing on second floors
- grand pianos on second floors
- couches crowded with people on second floors
- etc., etc.

And, chances are you are placing your aquarium close to a wall...and there's a pretty good chance that the wall underneath will be load bearing.

Mouse...25 gallons the limit? My wife and I way more than that when I pick her up to carry her into bed at night!

 

[Gatortailale1]

Mouse,

Are you talking about a mouse house?

Just having fun to amuse myself at work.

You are great mouse and always have some good comments.

[ April 30, 2002: Message edited by: Gatortailale ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

I have a 55 on the second floor,weighing about 800-900 lbs(U.S.). I would feel just fine with a 120.

 

[cyberpanther]

I used to have my 75 gallon with about 175 lbs LR 150 LBS LS and many other things. Never had a problem, well except for a minor instance where it leaked. No major damage just went through the floor(none that can be seen anyway). But anyway it would still be up there if I wouldn't have moved. Now my 75 is on the first floor and my 55 upstairs.

 

[Gatortailale1]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mouse:
<strong>As far as i know 25 gallons for second floor is your limit.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Mouse:
What kind of building codes do you have in England?

I have a 125 with 170 lbs. LR & 150+lbs. LS & no problems on 2nd floor of townhouse

 

[D-Nak]

Thanks for the replies so far... Anyone else?

D-Nak

P.S.
I understand the logic behind the grand piano, a bunch of people dancing, etc. but we're talking about almost a ton of weight packed into a 2' x 4' footprint. It's not necessarily the weight I'm worried about, it's the weight concentrated in such a small area that worries me.

Anyone add extra beams or other support to their floors (even for s first floor)?

 

[EmilyB]

I wouldn't even dream of having a larger tank upstairs anymore. I have a 33g (no sump) up there now.

We started out with a 72g in our living room. Two floods later, it was downstairs, and many floods of one kind or another later, I am very glad for that.

Some say I am plagued with floods....

 

[smokie]

Im on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and i have a 125 gallon tank with a 25 gallon sump and about 200 pounds of rock.No problems,well except the 3 times i flooded out the downstairs neighbor.
But one of those was the washing machine not my tank.

 

[Mouse]

Thats just what the LFS has told me. 25 G without any knowlege of the structure is ok. If you want to go a a bit bigger than that i think you need to start looking into where the floor joist's are and putting tanks next to supporting walls etc. 25 gallons can go anywhere for sure, without any problems. Mind you my freind has about 3 ton of Vynal in his room upstairs, but then again the floor has come away from he bottom of the wall.

 

[Anonymous]

Man, maybe the building codes are tougher in other places, all I know is I would rather live under Mouse than some of you other folks!! As we can see from Smokie's post, there are other potential disasters aside from breaking through the floor.

Used to have a 29 gal in my 3rd floor apt., and frankly even that gave me the willies (the floor in that building didn't exactly inspire confidence). The best part about moving into a house was being able to have a larger tank. It sits securely on the slab.

 

[Mike and Donna]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by D-Nak:
<strong>
P.S.
I understand the logic behind the grand piano, a bunch of people dancing, etc. but we're talking about almost a ton of weight packed into a 2' x 4' footprint. It's not necessarily the weight I'm worried about, it's the weight concentrated in such a small area that worries me.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

A grand piano sits on 4 small feet, each of which is about 1 square inch. A LOT more concentrated than a tank!!!!!

But, just to be a little more accurate, the issue is not so much the footprint, but how many joists/beams it spans (total strength) and the distance from end supports (sagging.) Again, a grand piano spanning only two joists sitting in the middle of a room does just fine.

[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: Mike and Donna ]</p>

 

[Bucktronix]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mouse:
<strong>As far as i know 25 gallons for second floor is your limit.</strong><hr></blockquote>

jebus...

my friend is installing a 600 gal in his 6th floor apartment. it all depends on your construction.

 

[robbinson]

I have a 120g reef tank on the second floor of a private home. I was concerned about it before I set it up - spoke with a contractor and he said don't worry about it. I didnt' and no problems to date (2+ years - no sag). Its best if the tank runs accross your joists. Mine does not, but it is adjascent to a load bearing wall in my house.

 

[MarkO1]

I have a 90 gal. with 250# of live rock and sand and 20 gal. refugium. Of course the condo I live in is in an old mill building that you could porbably drive a Mack truck onto. On another note, I once has a king size waterbed on a second floor of an old ranch in New Hampshire. That bed probably weighed over 2000 lbs.
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